Posted on 12/17/2008 5:40:01 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084
Governor Paterson says he can raise $404 million in state revenues with a 15% tax on soft drinks (but not diet sodas, juices, milk, or water).
The relevant section of the statute reads:
"Create Sales Tax on Soft Drinks. Imposes an additional 18 percent rate of sales and compensating use taxes on fruit drinks that contain less than seventy percent of natural fruit juice and non-dietetic soft drinks, sodas and beverages. By increasing the price, it will discourage individuals, especially children and teenagers, from excessive consumption of these beverages. Revenues will be directed for health care initiatives."
And here’s the American Beverage Association’s predictable response: hurts the middle class, nobody wants it, no science or logic behind it.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. For example, the maker of a carbonated juice drink wrote me to complain that her product, which is 50% juice and taxable, contains under 70 calories per 8-ounces in comparison to non-taxed 100% fruit juice at 110 calories/8 ounces. Obesity is about calories, no? Or is it really about the kinds of products people habitually drink?
I’m curious to know what you think of this idea. Please weigh in.
I feel bad. Bad Llama!
Let me throw you a lifeline.
You are suggesting that people can smoke, drink, eat, skydive and have unprotected gay sex as much as they want. It’s a free country after all.
But if a private insurance company wants to charge gay people more in premiums since their behavior increases their risk of bad health outcomes than you want to be able to tell the PC police to shut up...Free market at work.
Am I right?
I just don’t understand how a CEO can take millions of dollars as a bonus. Maybe they earn it but darn, it just seems like so much money to me.
"Seems" would be the operative word in your mindset and vernacular.
How could you possibly know what these people do and what that's worth?
The worst thing this blind fool did along with all the tax increases was to increase the amount welfare recipients receive and do away with fingerprinting for those that apply for medicaid. This in a system that is already bursting at the seams with illegal aliens. Right now NYC probably has about a quarter of its population who are illegal aliens and even when they are arrested nothing is done. It is only when illegals are sentenced to state prisons that the feds run checks on them and deport them after they complete their sentence.
Paterson had to see this coming. Hindsight is 20/20 but a real leader would have had the vision to see that Socialism and liberalism doesn’t work.
Aspartame is poison.
Do you think it is easy for a CEO of a large respected 90+ year old financial firm to lose $50 billion and bankrupt the company?
Do you have any idea how hard it is to lose that kind of money?
Any horse tooth jackass can lose a couple of million. That’s easy.
Try an experiment. Give your K-4 kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews $200 billion of play money at the next family outing and ask them to lose $150 Billion. No way they can pull it off.
It takes a trained professional on a closed course to lose that kind of money.
Correlations are great. One guy even wrote a book about them. In one instance he was able to directly correlate the amount of rainfall in Fiji with the price of peanuts in Georgia.
CEO's do steer the ship, but they are not responsible for the condition of the sea.
Oh & you do? lmao!!! I know all about the lunches with hookers & the payoffs etc. And all the other bs that goes on. Sure some earn their money & many do not. But I am sure you know all don't you? Leave your preaching to one who cares for your opinion as I clearly don't.
“Am I right?”
No, you’re wrong. I’m saying we should not restrict what legal products someone can use, but of those known to cause social and health problems, those who use those products should pay an additional tax to partially offset the costs to society we know will result. It’s almost like a small insurance payment, but the benefit goes to the gov’t, or taxpayers, and those funds should be set aside to address the problems caused, i.e., health problems, auto accidents, etc.
I have no objection to higher insurance premiums for risky behavior such as smoking (a higher premium I paid in the past), high performance cars, poor driving records, high risk occupations, etc. Not sure about simply being gay because you cannot assume that every gay person is automatically practicing unsafe sex. If that is known, then charge them more.
When the costs of specific behaviors can be partially charged to those engaging in the behavior, I think that should be done, whether as an addition to a product or higher insurance premiums.
My favorite was there was a study back in the 80’s that suggested that the number of Elvis impersonators was growing at a rate of 40% per year.
Based on that, it was estimated that by 2002 9 out of every 10 Americans would be an Elvis impersonator.
What the hell was this post about again? I can’t remember.
Oh yeah. Fat people and fast food should be taxed in the name of public health. It’s our tax dollars.
That makes it my business.
It is if you're a diabetic or trying to reduce your caloric intake.
There is gathering evidence that the artificial sweeteners cause an increase in appetite.
That's nonsense being offered by people who have no idea what they're talking about. I don't doubt that someone with an important sounding title is making this kind of claim but this kind of stupidity is driven by the quest for research grants, not science.
In fact, every decade or so, a new artificial sweetener turns out to be cancer causing.
In fact, every decade scientists cram massive amounts of chemicals into lab rats that have no relationship to real world consumption and then marvel when they develop all sorts of horrible maladies. Better ask for more money to study the crisis further......
Just about everything you ate for your Thanksgiving meal contains some sort of carcinogen. Heck, even too much water can kill ya. Where's the fedgov when you really need 'em?
It’s called rationalization.
I have been a CEO, dear lady.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
You are consumed by class envy, which is fomented and encouraged by the Left.
It takes even more trainging to beg the government for your multi-million dollar retirement package. Especially after running your company into the ground. There's abundant talent there. ;^)
So, do you advocate for the increased taxation of all carbohydrates? Would you tax simple carbs more and complex carbs less, vice versa or the same? Fruit juice could be considered a high sugar product so how much would you tax it? Milk has a lot of sugar. How much more expensive should it be? How about pasta? Lots of carb power there. Just think of the killing you could make on bread....where does your do gooding end?
So we agree. Cut the defensive reflex out where you say you don’t agree but really do. It’s annoying and transparent.
I would love to see a fast food tax. It’s not conservative or right. It’s purely Schadenfreude. If I had a dollar for every 300 pound woman who waved their sausage like hand in front of their face to blow away my cigarette smoke at the bar and then dove back into their plate of fried chicken I’d have more money than the Madoff victims used to have.
For every 350 pound traveling salesman who sat next to me on a transcontinental non smoking business class flight with his fleshy elbows poking my ribs for 6 hours.
You go Will and Marion Nestle! Go get em!! Tax em! Ban em. Take their money. It will compensate me for the healthcare costs that I pay for their bariatric surgery and Medicare and Medicaid paid diabetes and cholesterol medications. As a taxpayer I stand right behind you.*
*Don’t pay any attention to me. I’m a very angry and disturbed individual :-)
For your info dear former CEO I don’t have class envy at all. If I had a company going under I wouldn’t take a million dollar bonus check. I would work harder to keep my employee’s jobs. I am so impressed that you were a CEO too. Perhaps you might offer to get this country out of the mess it is in.
Amen, Sir Eric.
We should all be treated with respect and dignity.
No one is better than anyone else.
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